Easels and other free-standing devices allow users to mount or attach artist tools or material such as clear acrylic board, wooden board, canvas and the like, allowing the user to design and create products of their craft be it calligraphy, water color, oil paintings and not discounting similar endeavors in the arts.
Prior art specifies a conventional practice for calligraphers to execute the art of writing, illuminating and lettering on a slanted frame or box. Floor or table standing easels, commonly constructed of tubular and other structural components which may be of wood, metal, plastic, cardboard or other materials, or combination thereof, have long been used for such applications. These devices can be relatively expensive, cumbersome, and difficult to use, and some have been designed to be more or less foldable, to make them less bulky for transport.
Traditionally, easels employ three or more legs which are attached via a hinging connector system, forming a structural triangle. This allows the easel to impart any weighted vertical forces placed onto an item-supporting cross member into an outward direction to the center of the structure. The hinged connectors contain expanding legs to prevent the easel legs from spreading, and as such, keep the easel upright. These traditional free-standing easels are steadfast in their construction and stability, but can only be as compact as the constituent pieces.
Another embodiment of the art sees a flat sheet of stiff, bendable, resilient plastic which forms a preferably rectangular, central panel and a pair of substantially triangular side sections (referred to as “wings”). The wings having bottom edges which preferably extend upwardly at a small angle relative to the bottom edge of the panel. The sheet is scored or otherwise weakened along the joint line extending along the junction of each wing and the panel, so that the wings can be folded rearward to adopt a generally perpendicular position relative to the panel. In this position, the angled bottom edges of the wings cause the panel to adopt a rearward inclined and upstanding position, thus being non-adjustable.
Another embodiment of the art sees the sheet having a pair of partial cutouts, preferably being bell-shaped and having a central slit in the upper end. Each cutout bridges a wing and the panel at a joint line, the cutout being integral with the panel along a joinder line extending along the cutout's bottom edge. The cutout may be bent rearward to engage the adjacent wing to lock it in the supporting position.
Again, another embodiment sees the sheet further having a second pair of partial cutouts of hook-like configuration formed in the panel adjacent its bottom edge in laterally spaced relationship. Each such hook-like cutout has a shank segment integral at its end with the panel and parallel with the panel's bottom edge, and a hook segment extending upwardly therefrom. The hook-like cutouts can thus be bent forwardly out of the panel to suspend and hold the preferred item so that it rests against the panel in an upwardly and rearwardly leaning position.
Another embodiment offers a three-hinged wooden frame structure featuring a tri-fold method to position a clear acrylic board, wooden board or other similar panel for calligraphers to execute the art of writing, illuminating and lettering on a slant. These frame structures provide pre-determined angles of slope that are non-adjustable and can be relatively expensive, cumbersome and difficult to use, transport, and store.
In conclusion, researched prior art materials and construction identified do not compare to the unique design of the present invention, it's compact size when not in use, and the invention's pairing with tall, short, skinny, or wide rigid material.